NEWSLETTER of the Wisconsin Entomological Society Volume 2 Number 1 James W. Mertins, Editor EDITOR'S NOTES January, 1974 The response to the request for personal resumes from each of the members of WES (NEWSLETTER vol. 1, no. 3) was, in a word, underwhelming. Outside of a couple of new member application forms and one renewing member who took time to send along a completed form, there were no respondents to the suggestion. Despite this lack of initial interest we may blunder on with the plan, because it still looks like a sound idea. Digging back in the archives should reveal some informa- tion on most of the members from the time of their first association with WES. Additional contributions or corrections are still welcome. Personal thanks to Dorothy Custer for over a dozen fine pseudoscorpion spec- • imens supplied in response to my notice in the NEWSLETTER. To the membership: it works, why not try it? NOTICES (This column will accept and publish any personal notes from members in regard to specimens or equipment desired, or for sale, trade, or exchange.) Wanted. Records by county for all Wisconsin Rhopalocera, Sphingidae, Saturniidae, and Catocala. For more details write Roger Kuehn, 5042 N. 61 St. Milwaukee, W is. 53218. ’ Wanted. Confirmable reports or specimens from termite infestations within Wisconsin. Please contact Glenn Esenther, U.S. Forest Products Lab- oratory, Madison, with any information you may have. Wanted. Pseudoscorpions - live or preserved in alcohol. Any species. Will accept any specimens you don't want, or have house pseudoscorpion, Chelifer cancroides, for trade. Jim Mertins, Dept, of Entomology. University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706. The NEWSLETTER of the Wisconsin Entomological Society is published two to four times yearly at irregular intervals. Please send all news, notes, contributions and other items for the NEWSLETTER to the Editor, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. NEWS OF MEMBERS (This column will serve to keep the membership up to date on other members' activities, honors, address changes, new members, and other news. Please submit items of interest to the Editor.) We see by the October, 1973, news notes of the Georgia Entomological Society that our own Dr. John All, who recently left Wisconsin to join the entomology staff at the University of Georgia, is already an active participant in the GES. He is on the Local Arrangements Committee for the annual meeting to be held next March in Athens, Ga. Dr. R. D. Shenefelt reports that since the last NEWSLETTER the position of Curator of the U. W. Insect arium has been filled. The new staff member is John Baker, who comes to Wisconsin from Lincoln, Nebraska. John holds a B. A. in Biology from Union College in Lincoln. He brings with him his wife, Carolyn, and eagerness for his new job. Of course, John immediately became the newest member of the WES. Welcome to you both. Another note from Dr. Shenefelt to express his thanks to WES member, Dorothy Custer, who recently donated a copy of "Robert Leslie Usinger - Autobio- graphy of an Entomologist" to the U.W. Insectarlum Fluke Memorial Library through the WES. Additional thanks to Dorothy on behalf of the Society. Herbert J. Grimek, currently on the Editorial Committee responsible for the NEWSLETTER, passed his final exam for the Ph.D. degree in Endocrinology-Repro- ductive Physiology in early December. Dr. Grimek as yet has no definite plans for after graduation. Congratulations Herb! New Members John Baker ... 0 ........ . 22 N. Main St., Oregon, Wis. 53573 Mr. Baker is interested in general insect col- lecting and taxonomy, but especially the Scar- abeidae. He also enjoys insect photography. William J. Lucas, Jr. ................ 1217 Houseman N.E., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49505 Mr. Lucas is a student and expresses an inter- est in Arachnids, specifically spiders. His specialties are collecting, life history, biology, and behavior. Ralph Howard. ............. , .. . .... . . . 0 30 C University Houses, Madison, Wis. 53705 Dr. Howard is a Project Associate at U.W. in entomology. He is interested in insect collect- ing and biology, and insect photography. His professional pursuit is chemical insect ecology. Patrick D. Tobin 2120 University Ave. #401, Madison, Wis. 53705 2 NEWS OF MEMBERS (cont.) Mr. Tobin is a first year entomology graduate student at U.W. interested in insect collect- ing and biology, insect photography, and coll- ecting spiders . Changes of Address Leslie A. Ferge ......... 1301 Spring St. #611 Madison, Wis. 53715 John H. Masters P. 0. Box 1021 South Gate, Calif. 90280 Found Member (new address) Kenneth A. Schmitt, Jr. W 168 N 11469 El Camino Germantown, Wis. 53022 Dues Dues for the current fiscal year 1973-74 are being accepted by Treasurer, William Hilsenhoff. HISTORY OF WISCONSIN ENTOMOLOGY - II Frederick Rauterberg was another early contributer to entomology in Wiscon- sin. He was interested in both the Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. Not much is known of him before a brief mention of his excellent collecting success in the Annual report of the Milwaukee Public Museum for 1889. Apparently Rauterberg succeeded in capturing previously unrecorded Coleoptera from the Milwaukee area every summer for many years and was active in the field continuously from about 1865 until shortly before his death in 1902. Frederick Rauterberg was an early Director of the Wisconsin Natural History Society - Zoology Section, and was appointed the first Curator of Entomology at the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1897. In fact, he was the only officially desig- nated entomologist at the institution until 1960 when the current Division of Entomology was established. Entomology was obviously important in 1897, as the total staff of the museum (outside of Rauterberg) included only a custodian and his assistant, and a taxidermist and his assistant. Rauterberg published two papers (in German) on Wisconsin Coleoptera in the 1880' s, and two papers (in English) in 1900 on diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera of Milwaukee County. On his joining the Public Museum staff, he donated his entire collection of some 7000 specimens to the institution. The Bulletin of the Wisconsin Natural History Society, which was published in English, began in 1900, and broke tradition with the mostly German member- ship. However, it was probably responsible for a flurry of activity by Milwau- kee area students of entomology. At least 72 papers on entomological subjects appeared between its covers before the cessation of its publication and demise of the society in 1914, primarily as a result of World War I. Many of the local 3 *1 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN ENTOMOLOGY - II (cont.) authors appearing therein, such as George Peckham, William Morton Wheeler, Frederick Rauterberg, Charles Brues, Sigmund Graenicher, George Barth, and Richard Muttkowski, sooner or later went on to receive national and internation- al recognition. WISCONSIN INSECT NOTES The extreme western part of Wisconsin is inhabited by an interesting leaf- eating scarabaeid tentatively identified as Polyphylla hammondi (Lee.). The genus Polyphylla includes the ten- lined June beetles of the southwestern states and the " fuller" (P. fullo ) of Europe. Although our species lacks the bright white markings of some members of the genus, it nevertheless is attractive. This large, robust beetle which ranges in length from 23 to 30 millimeters is predominantly brown in color. The pronotum usually has a white median line, and occasional specimens have several discern- ible whitish longitudinal stripes on the elytra. In most cases, however, these stripes are very faint. The underside, with the exception of the abdomen, is densely covered with long, light brown hair. The abdomen is banded with black and dull white. Both sexes have strikingly large antennal clubs which consist of seven long, flat, parallel, leaf like plates. The adults occur from the last week in June through the first week of August, but are most abundant during mid-July. They often come to lights, especially on warm, humid nights, and stridulate loudly when handled. The chh! chh! chh! sounds which the beetle produces by rubbing the terminal segments of the abdomen against the elytra can be startling to the unsuspecting. These beetles often contain larvae of a dipterous parasite and appear to be rather short lived. The distribution of this insect in Wisconsin appears to be very limited. Although it probably occurs in other counties bordering the Mississippi River, as far as the writer is aware, it has been recorded only for the extreme western part of La Crosse County. It may be found only in areas where the soil is sandy. Any members who are aware of additional localities or specimens from Wis- consin are encouraged to notify the writer or the Editor. Submitted by Herb Grimek Thinking ahead to summertime and collecting in the great outdoors, one may dismiss such inconveniences as mosquitoes. Some members may find dismissal more difficult when the actual confrontation takes place, however. The chemical repel- lent DEET is widely regarded as the most effective available; it is the active ingredient in Offl^, but two far more effective formulations of DEET are now available. Petri's Sporting Goods in Madison (and perhaps others) sell an un- branded repellent lotion in a plastic squeeze bottle which is 75% active (compared to 50% for Off! lotion and 15% for Off! aerosol). A 75% active aerosol (Airosol Brand) is available at the State Street Army Store in Madison, or from the man- ufacturer, Airosol Company, Inc., 525 N. 11 St., Neodesha, Kansas. Both formu- lations are manufactured to Federal specifications for use by the military. PROGRAM NOTES As the members already surmise, there was no meeting of the Society during the month of January. It has been the custom of WES to dispense with this par- 4 PROGRAM NOTES (cont.) ticular meeting each year due to competition from the holidays. This year was particularly bad because our usual meeting date, the first Monday of the month, fell during the extended school vacation. However, an interesting meeting is tentatively shaping up for February 4, barring a severe snowstorm or a worsened fuel situation. Roger Kuehn from Milwaukee has agreed to come and address us on the progress of his work toward cataloguing the occurrence and distribution of certain Macrolepidoptera in Wisconsin, an extension of the work done by Jim Gbner on the state's butterflies. MINUTES OF THE WISCONSIN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY FOR THE MEETING HELD ON DECEMBER 3, 1973 The December meeting of the Wisconsin Entomological Society was called to order by President Coppel. He introduced our guest speaker for the evening. Dr. Roy Harrison, from Lincoln College in New Zealand. He is presently a visiting colleague of the Entomology Department in Madison. Dr. Harrison opened his pre- sentation with greetings from the 230 member Entomological Society of New Zealand. He told us about its activities, publications and history. Dr. Harrison then proceeded to tell us about the progress and problems of entomology in New Zealand. There are about 10,000 species of Insects in the country. Since the island is remote from other land masses, the insect populations present represent those in- sects that could come to the islands under their own steam. As a result, New Zealand has very few ants and aphids. Of course the country has problems with insects that have been imported and since become pests. Dr. Harrison told us about some of the insect pests, native and introduced, that are causing problems in agri- culture there. The various areas of agriculture have about 200 insect pests. All but 6 of these are introduced. Two native pasture pests are a lepidopteran and a coleopteran species that kill the grass. The grub of the coleopteran species eats the roots of the pasture plants and the subterranean lepidopteran larvae come to the surface at night and defoliate the plants. Following Dr. Harrison's excellent presentation, the business meeting was called to order. There were no corrections or additions for the minutes of the last meeting. There was a motion by Jim Mertlns to accept the minutes, seconded by Mrs. Custer; passed. The next item of business was the slate of officers for the coming year. There were no nominations from the floor. A motion was made by Bill Sieker to accept the officers as listed. It was seconded by Mrs. Custer, and passed by the members present. It was brought to the society's attention by President Coppel that councilmen are not allowed to hold offices. Bill Phillipson was appointed by Dr. Coppel to complete President-elect Mertins* council term. President - James Mertins Secretary - Barbara Duehn Vice-president - Bamaby Fluke Councilman (1974-6) - Glenn Esenther Treasurer - William Hilsenhoff New business was called for next. President Coppel asked members to think about a change in meeting time. The meeting was turned over to the new President, Jim Mertins. He asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Respectfully submitted, Barbara Duehn, Secretary REMINDER: Anyone still wishing to contribute to the Lutz Bayer memmorial fund is urged to do so now, as the fund has apparently peaked and will soon be used for its stated pur- pose, to bind Lutz' notes, papers, and journals for the Fluke Memorial Library. Attractive memorial labels have been acquired and will be affixed to each volume. 5 WISCONSIN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY Wisconsin Entomological Society Department of Entomology University of Wisconsin Madison, Wis. 53706 Address correction requested Leslie A. Ferge ,1301 Spring St. #611 Mad Ison. Wis. 53715 *